Wednesday, June 20, 2012By Richard Ingham, AFP

RIO DE JANEIRO -- World leaders were to begin arriving in Rio on Tuesday on the eve of a summit intended to forge a pact for a greener planet where billions are lifted out of poverty.

Around a hundred heads of state or government are expected to attend the three-day meeting of 193 nations, the 20-year follow-up to the United Nations' Earth Summit.

But negotiations over a master plan to be issued on Friday ran into problems and activists braced for what they feared would be a sad compromise.

On the table in Rio is a 50-page draft that would identify the world's many ills and spell out how the community of nations plans to treat them.

Called “The Future We Want,” the communique is scheduled to be endorsed on Friday, setting down guidelines for sustainable development for the coming decade and beyond.

Months of work have been invested in the project.

Nations and regional blocs have haggled over how to promote the green economy, muster funds to help cleaner growth in poor countries and define “Sustainable Development Goals” which would succeed the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals after they expire in 2015.

The outcome of the talks remained unresolved early Tuesday, as Europe complained commitments were not strong enough.

Brice Lalonde, a former French environment minister who is the conference's co-coordinator, said he believed the Sustainable Development Goals could emerge as the star of the event.

“The goals will affect rich countries and poor alike,” he said in an interview with AFP on Monday.

But green activists and campaigners for poverty eradication said the text was already unambitious before negotiations stepped up a gear last Wednesday, and some predicted a thick serving of fudge was on the menu.

In a message to the conference, 40 figures, including former heads of state and Nobel laureates, said the scientific evidence of dangerous environmental overreach is “unequivocal.”

“We are on the threshold of a future with unprecedented environmental risks,” they said.

“The combined effects of climate change, resource scarcity, loss of biodiversity and ecosystem resilience at a time of increased demand poses a real threat to humanity's welfare.

“Such a future generates unacceptable risks that will undermine the resilience of the planet and its inhabitants.”